A RECIPIENT OF THE ROYAL RED CROSS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10264, 6 February 1899, Page 2

A RECIPIENT OF THE ROYAL RED CROSS.

WORK OF THE NURSES IN EGYPT

"Tim QirEEtf" Newspapkr.

"Tire Queen" newspaper publishes a letter from a lady in Cairo, which we feel sure will interest our readers, who must wish to know something of the part that women have played in the terrible drama of war:

One of the most pleasing experiences I have had this winter in Cairo has been my intercourse with the nursing sisters in the military hospital. There is at present a staff of seven, and a group of more devoted and charming women it would be difficult to imagine. All are ladies—some of them of distinguished families—-who have left home and friends to fulfil a noble, but always difficult, vocation.

The military discipline which all candidates of the army service must undergo at Uetley ha* brought out and trained to perfection that natural courage and power of endurance without which no woman can be of real service in the army.

It is delightful to note that, in spite of the scenes of suffering and death they are called on to witness, the sisters yet retain a most wholesome sense of humour, some of them an inexhaustible fund of sparkling wit. What a blessing to themselves and their patients that it should be so! The military uniform, consisting of grey alpaca, with white muslin veil and apron, brightened with the little cape of scarlet cloth, is most becoming, and must never be dispensed with while the sister is on duty.

Miss Amy Florence Grist, the senior sister,, has been nearly five years in .Cairo, and in that time teis undergone many a strain on brain and nerve that would have broken Sown a less capable woman. She has been in charge while the superintending sister ■was absent, and has carried the staff through the recent most difficult crisis, during those terrible weeks when the sick and wounded ■were coming in from the frontier in such numbers. Men who had borne the long trying wait at Dannalee through the heat of a Soudanese summer, and were at the end oi it, as the Sirdar said when presenting their medals, "as fit and fine a brigade as he should ever wish to command," were bowled over in great numbers on the homeward march. Poor fellows; their officers have told mc that no power on earth could keep them from drinking foul stagnant water, with the result that, when they reached Cairo (who shall speak of those who had fallen out of the ranks by the way?), so many were prostrated from fever and dysentery that the powers of the staff nurses and doctors and clergymen were tried to the uttermost.

The numbers of wounded soldiers were small compared with those laid down with enteric fever on their return. In the month of October there were as many as 500 in the wards at one time; half of these, including all the more serious cases, being dependent on the care of the sisters for night and day nursing, while the orderlies, with the occasional help of the sisters, looked after the others. The situation of the hospital, on the Inokattam Hills, leaves it open to every breeze that blows ; the wards are unusually wide and airy, and yet tfoe inside conditions during these warm nights and days in October were unspeakably trying. Some of the sisters were themselves borne down with sickness and pain, yet not one of them missed a day's duty, but struggled on, sustained by increasing devotion to the noble work of saving human life. But in too many cases the battle was against them, and in spite of their best efforts, many deaths occurred every day, sometimes four, five, six, and even seven. I have seen five funerals in progress on one afternoon in the little English cemetery here.

The sisters have told mc that the recollection of these days will be a nightmare to them while they live! It is only now that they are beginning to draw breath a little, and to feel that it is possible to enjoy eoihe of the amenities of life again. And much need, for it is eaey to see that the strain has left its impress. At present there are about 380 men in hospital; 250 of these are more or less convalescent, and go home in the troopship Jelunga on Friday, under the care of three of the sisters, Colonel Carey, and four mcdi cal officers.

In going round with one of the sisters a week ago, it was most pathetic to noi:ce the anxiety of some of the poor fellows *tst they should not be able to accuoinmy the others; half-a-dozen or so have had serious relapses and cannot be moved.

One of the hardest trials connected with the work is when frienda write asking to be told something about the last moments of eons, brothers, and husbands. This, with hundreds of cases passing through the wards, would seem to be most difficult, and yet it is done whenever possible. The sister refers to her book, in which are kept particulars, more or less detailed, of every case.* An extract of these is made and sent home, and, however meagre, is always gratefully received by the bereaved relatives. I go to-morrow to see the ambulance train which is to take the invalids down to Alexandria. It was with extreme satisfaction that we in Cairo heard a few days ago that Miss Grist had been gazetted a recipient of the Red Cross—that is the women's equivalent for the V.C., which is generally appended by the Queen in person. May Sister Grist be long spared to wear her well-earned decoration. M.H.B. Cairo, November 30th.